Soccer TV rights ruling is offside, says UEFA

Date: 01/08/01

By Peter Chapman

LAWYERS acting for UEFA claim the European Commission has strayed a mile offside with a draft decision outlawing the way TV rights to soccer's Champions' League are handled.

Their comments follow Brussels' decision last month to issue a statement of objections, warning UEFA to change the way it sells exclusive rights to a single broadcaster per territory for several years. Anti-trust officials say this "has a highly anti-competitive effect", limiting national TV sports coverage for viewers. But UEFA's advisors at media law firm Olswang say the Commission's arguments do not stack up because national TV channels are far more interested in competing for the rights to domestic competitions in countries such as England, Germany, Italy and Spain. "What viewers are interested in is the performance of national teams [in the Champions' League]. For most countries, that's 20-30 matches a year," said one UEFA lawyer. "The argument that selling that restricts competition in national TV markets is plain wrong. And even if it were right, there are arguments in favour of central marketing."

Swiss-based UEFA claims the way it sells rights for the Champions' League allows it to support less glamorous parts of the game. For example, last month it organised an under 18's tournament, won by Poland. It also hosts referees' courses in Eastern Europe.

Breaking the collective selling model could, in theory, allow big clubs to sell their own rights - potentially for more money. But UEFA lawyers say if this were the case, clubs would not make comparable individual donations to fund the grass-roots game.

UEFA has until the end of October to table its response to the Commission. In the meantime qualifying stages of the Champions League are already under way with the first group matches scheduled for 12 September.

The English Premiership shrugged off a UK legal challenge to its collective-rights sale last year. It claimed successfully that it redistributes a large slice of its estimated €2.3-billion TV rights income to the game's grass-roots.

Lawyers acting for UEFA claim the European Commission has strayed a mile offside with a draft decision outlawing the way TV rights to soccer's Champions' League are handled.